From time to time the Department of Health issues quality comparisons for nursing homes in specific areas of care. One such area is percent of residents at high risk for pressure sores who have pressure sores. This particular survey was conducted in Queens between January and September of 2010.

For the time period in question, the national average for high risk residents of nursing homes who developed pressure sores was 11%. In New York State, the average was 12%. While twenty-one Queens nursing homes came in at or below the state average, a far greater number were above. Thirty-five nursing homes in Queens County registered a score of 13% or higher. The worst offenders, those homes scoring 20% or higher, were:

Dr William O Benenson Rehab Pavilion (20%),

Cliffside Rehabilitation & Residential Health Care Center (22%),

Highland Care Center (22%),

Silvercrest (22%),

Midway Nursing Home (23%),

New York Center for Rehabilitation & Nursing (23%),

Rockaway Care Center (23%),

Long Island Care Center Inc (24%),

Queens Boulevard ECF, Inc (24%),

Regal Heights Rehabilitation and Health Care Center (24%),

Franklin Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing (26%),

Fairview Nursing Care Center Inc (27%), and

Resort Nursing Home (39%)

Nursing homes owe a duty to their residents to prevent pressure sores unless such sores are clinically unavoidable. With high risk residents, for example patients who are immobile, the possibility of the development of a pressure sore is greater than in a lower risk resident. This does not excuse the nursing home from doing everything possible to prevent the sores from developing, and certainly percentages above 20% as evidenced in this study are unacceptable.

The full comparative study can be accessed on the DOH website by clicking here.